Device for picking up semi-rigid sheet-like elements from a magazine and transferring them onto a conveyor

Abstract

A device for picking up semirigid sheet-like elements from a magazine comprises a rotating body supported by a horizontal and fixed shaft supporting a radial cam and at least one arm oscillating in a plane normal to the shaft and serving as a radial guide for a gripping member and gears effective to displace the gripping member between a position spaced from the magazine and a position near to it for picking up sheet-like elements.

I claim: 
     
       1. A device for picking up semirigid sheet-like elements from a magazine, characterized in that it comprises a rotating body driven of continuous motion and supported by a normally horizontal and fixed shaft, a radial cam mounted on said shaft and fixed with respect to said rotating body, at least one arm mounted on said shaft for oscillation in a plane normal thereto and serving as a radial guide for an attaching block of a gripping member for the sheet-like elements contained in the magazine, a planet gear carried idly by said arm and provided with an eccentric pin for engagement with said radial cam, said planet gear meshing with a gear segment rigid with said rotating body and concentrical with said shaft, and a cam provided on said rotating body at said gear segment and being engaged by a pin projecting from said block for defining the displacement of the block between a position wherein the gripping member is spaced apart from the magazine and a position wherein said gripping member is approached thereto to pick up said sheet-like elements, said radial cam being contoured such as to cause an advanced oscillatory movement of said arm prior to the latter reaching the magazine and the stopping of said arm with respect to the magazine when the gripping member is in its position of sheet-like element picking up. 
     
     
       2. A device for picking up flattened cases from a magazine and for opening the same according to claim 1, said device further comprising at least one shaft pivotally supported in said rotating body about an axis parallel to said fixed shaft and substantially coincident with a folding edge of a flattened case picked up by the gripping member, a sucker mounted on said shaft and connected to a suction pump, valve means controlling activation and deactivation of said sucker, a second stationary cam comprising a first portion to cause rotation of said shaft such as to bring the sucker onto the case face opposite that of engagement of the gripping member and a second portion to cause rotation of the shaft in the opposite direction during activation of said sucker to open said case.